Joining choir
Have you considered joining the choir program but missed the beginning of the choir season? You might think it’s too late to join. Or perhaps you wonder if you’ll be able to keep up. Let me address these situations and lay out what opportunities exist for choral singing.
The clear answer is always yes, you can always join any of our choirs mid-term or mid-year. Choir season runs from early September through the end of May and the bulk of Saint Philip’s choir members commit to the entire year. However, there are important exceptions, including “snowbird” choristers and visitors.
Snowbirds often arrive late and leave early, and visitors can sometimes join the choir for short periods, sometimes for just a few weeks. Thankfully, due to the constant presence and high commitment level of our lay clerks (professional singers), faithful adult and youth choristers and exceptionally hard-working Canterbury Apprentices (more below), our choirs continue to operate through these fluxes, even during this post-lockdown period.
Right now, there are several opportunities for choral singing:
The Adult Choir
Although this choir functioned as two separate groups prior to the pandemic, the parish found it beneficial to bring the more advanced and entry-level choirs together to form a solid combined choir. There are currently 45 adult choristers, and they rehearse primarily on Thursday nights. The adult choir sings one choral service per Sunday, and two on the first Sunday of every month from October to May (minus the first Sunday in January, when the choir is on Christmas Break).
Saint Philip’s First Sunday Music program allows the Adult Choir to sing a larger choral work, often with instrumental accompaniment, on a regular basis. Thus, rehearsals incorporate shorter-term and larger projects which are prepared side-by-side.
The Adult Choir combines rigor and a varied repertoire with a solid group of core singers. This means that new members with fairly elementary skills can join without feeling undue pressure. This is also a warm and committed group, willing to donate a lot of time and energy to making worship at Saint Philip's beautiful.
The Saint Nicholas Choir
This choir is designed for boys and girls ages 8-9 (occasionally younger) through high school, and this group functions in multiple capacities. The choir rehearses one evening per week, enjoys a choir supper together, and sings at multiple Sunday services.
Eight benefits for youth who participate in choir
1. By using a graduated curriculum from the Royal School of Music (RSCM), boys and girls can start from scratch and learn the technical skills they will need to become highly functional choristers.
2. Singing services regularly (typically three Sundays per month) provides liturgical and spiritual formation.
3. Saint Philip’s program offers choristers the opportunity to advance based on skill level and time in the program. Levels of achievement are reflected tangibly with various rewards.
4. Older choristers have ample opportunity to help newer or younger students learn and progress. This apprenticeship model provides good motivation for older and younger choristers and strengthens the bonds of fellowship in the choir.
5. The choir sings choral Evensong every month, which includes unique and important examples of Anglican choral repertoire.
6. The youth also get to sing with adult choristers which cements the objective value of their liturgical contribution.
7. The Music Commission provides a certain number of scholarships to support attendance for Saint Philip’s students at regional RSCM summer courses which provides a huge boost to the youths’ musical formation, as well as opportunities to advance with independently adjudicated awards.
8. As a capstone experience, Saint Philip’s youth choristers travel (fully funded) to sing at various UK cathedrals with the parish’s UK Residency program. This opportunity allows the choristers to tie their experience together with a larger sense of historical connections, the Anglican tradition, and personal spiritual growth. The last residency occurred at Wells Cathedral, and it’s expected that the next one will be at Lincoln Cathedral during the summer of 2024—in tandem with the Youth Pilgrimage which is currently projected to be a walking pilgrimage to Walsingham.
Schola Cantorum
This group of advanced adult choristers sings Evensong every third Sunday afternoon at 4:15 pm with the Saint Nicholas Choir. With only one additional rehearsal per month, this group accomplishes a lot quickly. They get to internalize the 1662 Book of Common Prayer form of Evensong via traditional settings of Responses, Canticles, and traditional Anglican pointed Psalms from the Coverdale translation. The Schola also travels with the Saint Nicholas Choir on UK Residency trips.
Canterbury Apprentices
Originally designed to give St Nicholas Choir boys with changed voices the chance to sing with adults, the apprentice program is now a tremendous opportunity for advanced boys and girls to accelerate their choral progress and experience. Saint Philip’s Canterbury Apprentices sing with the Adult Choir in addition to singing in the Saint Nicholas Choir (girls) or Schola (boys with changed voices). This is a large increase in commitment and Saint Philip’s apprentices function at a high level in their respective adult choirs. They also benefit from participating in the parish’s First Sunday projects. A decision to advance to this program is made by the Music Director and the chorister together.
As you can see, there are a variety of opportunities to sing in a choir, and it is possible to join throughout the year. If you or your child is interested in participating, please contact me at any time to talk about your situation. My email address is Justin.Appel@StPhilipsTucson.org. I will be delighted to help you find a place in our choir program.
Saint Philip's is a special parish for many reasons, but one of them is clearly a long-standing interest in choral singing at worship services. I continue to feel blessed to be a part of this musical community, and I hope you will feel welcome to become a part of it.
—Justin Appel, Director of Music